Thursday, October 24, 2013

The art, or confusion, of pricing handmade items

Do you ever go to craft shows and wonder, “How can that cost
so much?” I will give my answer to this at the end of this post.

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I recently visited an
arts and crafts festival. It was wonderful. In addition to shopping I was very
interested in seeing how crafters displayed their items and priced their items.

Here’s a question I have. How much would you spend on a
handmade item? In this case let’s say a handmade bracelet.

In my research I have come across a number of great articles
about selling handmade creations and I’ve bookmarked quite a few on my
computer. Here are two that explain best practices in pricing.

If I were any good at math, or liked math, I would spend
more time with my craft receipts and work with the formulas mentioned in the
links I shared here. I also should keep a list of my supplies and inventory.

Now for an answer to the question I posed in the first
paragraph of this blog post. As a crafter I am becoming more and more aware of
the time, money and patience that go into making a handmade item. In my case it
is the handmade jewelry I make. As a shopper I like to compare prices to get
the best deal. After some thought I have come to this somewhat obvious
conclusion…an arts and crafts show is not a flea market. Shoppers cannot walk
into a craft show searching for a deal like one they may find at a flea market.

These are just my thoughts. I know crafters and shoppers are all different and what works for one person may not work for another.

Thanks for taking this time with me. I suppose I should put on my thermal underwear now and head to the Creative Cave. It is 35 degrees outside! Yikes! Or do I wait for the sun to come out?